Sunday, August 31, 2008

Daring Bakers Challenge- Chocolate Eclairs


Whew! Just made this Daring Bakers Challenge! I made the chocolate eclairs yesterday afternoon as a dessert for a cookout we had for some family members. I was going to make them today but there is no way I wanted 24 chocolate eclairs sitting in my refrigerator staring at me all weekend. They must have been good, since we ate 20 of them!


The recipe came from MeetaK at Whats for Lunch, Honey? (You can find the recipe there), and Tony Tahhan at Olive Juice. It's from Meeta's favorite sugar daddy Pierre Herme from the cookbook Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme by Dorie Greenspan.


The process involved making a chocolate sauce, and just using 7 Tbs of it in a chocolate glaze. The remaining sauce will be used for an ice cream topping-- Yum! Then I made a chocolate pastry cream (which is like a rich chocolate pudding) and pate a choux which forms the actual eclair base. Cool the eclairs, cut them open, apply the glaze to the tops, fill the bottoms with the pastry cream, squish them together to keep them from toppling over on the plate-- a very messy job--I kept having to lick and then wash my fingers. It's a tough job, but somebody had to do it! :)


They weren't all as pretty as the one I photographed, but they sure tasted good!

15 comments:

Cynthia's Blog said...

I too will use the chocolate sauce on ice cream. I liked how pretty yours turned out.

Lot-O-Choc said...

Mmm yours look so good :D
Yummy!
Great job.

Dragon said...

Chocolate sauce never goes to waist in my house either. :) Lovely eclairs!

Anne said...

Great job on the eclairs! I have loads of chocolate sauce left over as well :)

Leslie said...

I love your thick glaze! Yummo

Rebecca of "Ezra Pound Cake" said...

What a swanky dessert for a cookout! Bet you had them impressed. Great job!

TeaLady said...

Looks aren't everything, but these look good.

Amy J. said...

Great job!

Kirstynn Evans said...

These were definetly the messiest, and yummiest eclairs!

T’s Treats said...

They look fantastic! The sauce I used a couple days later on some cupcakes. Just dipped them in, it was perfect, will definitely use it that way again. Great job !

Anonymous said...

Looks delicious! Yeah, I've never heard of chocolate sauce going bad...ever.

Unknown said...

Haha! I had the same "problem" when I was putting the chocolate on the tops of mine...I had to keep licking my fingers! :-) Great job.

Ruth said...

I have to agree with everyone that the chocolate sauce will not go to waste with me at all either. Your eclairs look fantastic.

Angela said...

They turned out great! Love the thick glaze on top, too.

Unknown said...

Chocolate Eclairs is 1 of my fav food.